. >> so you have lived in new york city. you went to colgate, which is upstate new york. you went to harvard, lived in boston. now you live in connecticut. do they care this much about history? >> they do. i gave a talk in madison conn a week ago. they are very interested and enthusiastic. in new england, 1775 -- in the south, only south carolina and virginia were doing anything of any importance in 1775. north carolina was too divided and georgia did not matter much. but new england was out in front. the british knew that big trouble was coming out of new england. >> why? what was the reason that the patriots wanted to be separated from great britain? >> you have to take it in layers. the underlying population in new england tended to come in the beginning from east anglia, which was the old section of england that was the most against the crown and found no support for the parliamentary side in the civil war. after parliament triumphs but loses in the restoration. you see so many names of towns in eastern massachusetts that are also the names of towns in east anglia. so